For everyone out there struggling to lose
weight, complaining how hard it is, and raging against the wind at
the injustice of it all - I agree with you. That’s right. I
agree.

Feel better now?

What, you don’t trust me? Well rest assured, I
really do agree - weight loss is hard. I’ll even give you some
reasons why it’s so hard.

The rate of weight loss/gain is infinite in
one direction, not the other. Your body’s ability to gain or lose
weight is rate-limited in one direction but theoretically infinite
in the other. There is a physical limit to how many calories you
can burn in a day, even if you ran full-tilt, 24 hours a day -
there’s a limit. Yet, there is almost no limit to how much food you
can poke down. About the only thing putting any constraint on your
intake is how much your stomach can hold and people have been known
to stretch that out. Add to it that our food options are
unbelievably calorically dense - and you get an almost infinite
ability to gain weight.

Have you ever stopped to think how many
calories you need in a day and how many you just ate? Most people
need between 1,500 and maybe 2,200 calories per day (food labels
are based on 2,000). You can go to almost any restaurant and easily
find a meal that delivers all of that in one sitting. Plus you add
breakfast, mid-morning snack, afternoon snack, dinner and late
night snack to it – anything else you happen to graze on – and
suddenly you are way over your daily calorie need and
packing on the weight.

There are not enough hours in the day to
exercise enough to burn all of that off. That’s why weight gain is
practically infinite and weight loss is rate limited - it’ll only
come off so fast. Even if you starve yourself and workout like a
fiend, it will only come off at a certain rate (by the way, I am
not proposing starvation or self-abuse workout schedules - not only
is it unsustainable and unhealthy, but it would make me mighty
unpopular).

Nature doesn’t care about your
skinny jeans

Metabolic pathways in our bodies have all
kinds of mechanisms, triggers and feedback loops that are awesome
at saving up some energy for a rainy day. We can lay down fat like
nobody’s business. We are calorie storing machines.

Imagine living in a time when you didn’t know
where your next meal was coming from, and you didn’t have a way to
store or carry extra food around with you - no refrigerators, lunch
boxes, or even a backpack. If you came upon a pile of food, you had
no way of taking it all with you to ration out over the next few
weeks. What did you do? You gorged! I mean stuffed yourself ...
really poked it down. Lucky for us our bodies knew just what to do
with the excess - it packed on the pounds, baby. Yep, our thunder
thighs used to be our backpacks - our spare tires a
mini-frige. Think about it - we toted our surplus around as fat,
available for energy and life-processes when food wasn’t available.
Our body is great at this ... and it has served us well for
thousands of years.

The problem is, we don’t live like that
anymore. Not only are calories abundant, but the energy needed to
acquire those calories is hardly anything. We aren’t out there
clawing at the ground hoping to find a carrot - spending 200
calories to eat 50 calories. Nope. We now spend 50 calories to eat
1,000 (thank you drive-thru fast-food meal). And all our body knows
to do with the excess is store it - because it thinks we might need
it. There aren’t really any strong, metabolic triggers in our
bodies that have negative feedback loops for overeating. No
chemical comes cascading through our cells saying “bleecckkk, bacon
double cheeseburgers are revolting - get it away from me.” Nope,
our body keeps saying “yyaahhh, gimmee all of that!”

Your body doesn’t care that you can’t fit in
your clothes, that your bathroom scale number is astronomical, that
your doctor is pulling her hair out, or that you look in the mirror
and hate yourself. Your body only cares about avoiding
starvation. It’s never been threatened with “anti-starvation” so
it has no idea what to do about it.

Add to that your body’s natural protective
instinct not to lose the weight - sees it as a threat - and tries
to slow you down to maintain the calorie reserve, and the problem
becomes even more difficult. When you restrict calories, your body
kicks in all kinds of chemicals and metabolic pathways to get you
to move less - conserve that energy. The thought of going to the
gym becomes daunting but the couch looks extra comfy. Thanks
mother nature.

We Hear Diet and Think
Deprivation

The mere thought of “going on a diet” conjures
immediate imagery of canned beets, dry tuna fish in a hollowed out
tomato, and mounds upon mounds of lettuce. We already yearn for our
sickly-sweet, gooey-fresh doughnuts, finger-licking, salty, orange
cheese puffs, and butter cream frosting roses from the edges of
birthday cakes.

At first, our self-anger is so high we easily
commit to the “diet” – we deserve the punishment. Take that,
cottage cheese thighs! I hate you, flabby stomach! Now you’ll
pay!

But then, our anger fades. We lose our
punitive momentum and slowly start to notice that delivery pizza is
on sale, or cookies are in the break room. Then a new kind of anger
sets in – the “why me” variety. “Why can’t I have a doughnut? It’s
not fair!” Because entire food groups are completely off limits,
you feel deprived – set apart from others you deem normal.
Eventually, you cave and eat the stupid doughnut – then you slide
right back into your old habits. No more deprivation – or diet.

So you see? You’ve been right all along -
weight loss is hard. Science agrees with you. Sing hallelujah from
the roof tops - you were right.

Feel better? Relieved? Validated?
Vindicated?

That’s nice.

But you’re still overweight. Whatcha gonna do
about that?

Well, you’ve got two choices: Keep prancing
around with your apple fritter reminding everyone that weight loss
is hard, or swallow that Brussels sprout whole if you have to and
start down the path to a moderate, healthier lifestyle. One choice
gets you validated; one gets you into a smaller size. Your
choice.

NSCA certified personal trainer Shannon
Sorrels holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and an MBA. Her
company, Physix LLC, works with Valley individuals as well as
groups to improve their overall fitness. Reach her at (480)
528-5660 or visit www.azphysix.com.